Your most disappointing purchase or audition?


I've had a few.

bought a Naim Nait 3. Loved it in the store. Returned it within a week- way forward at home

Brought home some CJ preamp to audition perhaps 22 years ago. Noisy as anything and a turn off transient destroyed a tweeter (though years later i bought a CJ 17LS2 which I thought was the finest preamp I ever heard in my home)

Auditioned a VPI table (HW19) in a store- the store just could not get the belt to stay on. Bought a Rega instead. This was in perhaps 1990.

Fortunately, I never really experienced buyers remorse say 6 months or more after settling on a piece of gear.

Finally, there have been too many speakers that got stellar write ups which I just didn't care for.
zavato

Showing 1 response by mulveling

Ah, the Taylo 7u posted by Csmgolf reminds me of my own experience owning Taylo Reference monitors (Revelator tweet) -- these things sounded GREAT, except for the lacking low end (monitors that size can't have good bass). I thought I'd upgrade to the newer Linbrook Signature Monitors to get those same sweet minds & highs with a bit more low end extension. Bought them used from Tyler Acoustics for $2200 with stands (I think those were extra). They were horrible from top to bottom; wooly and completely lacking the magic and sparkle of the Taylos. They weren't broken; they just didn't sound good. And I can't tell you exactly how ugly they looked on those pedestal stands -- just the wrong sizes and proportions on a very large scale.

Shortly after this experience I made 2 more big mistakes: 1. Legacy Signature III: these weren't nearly as bad as the Linbrooks, but they weren't great either. 2. Sunfire Signature II amp: worst sounding stereo amp I've ever had in any of my systems. Completely defeats the purpose of having unlimited power on tap if you can't stand to listen at any volume. A PS Audio HCA-2 ran musical circles around it, and a Parasound A21 made it a laughingstock.

Also gotta give a dishonorable mention to Grado RS-1 headphones, since they're so overpriced and their sound quality is extremely overrated. Plus, the build quality of the units around 2005-7 was awful.

Ah, feels good to get some of the hate out. I'm SURE I've forgotten plenty of others...for now.